Events & Issues

New Delhi, 6 October 2023

         Caste Survey

FAIR DEAL FOR EBC IMPERATIVE

By Dr Oishee Mukherjee 

The caste survey undoubtedly has been a unique achievement of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has ignited with a concerted attempt to reclaim the turf from the BJP. If the Opposition alliance is to challenge the BJP next year, eroding its control over caste groups, specially in the heartland States, and reclaiming the narrative of emancipation hold the key. The fact that extremely backward classes dominate the OBCs in Bihar and other States a well which, in turn, form the dominant section of the population raises troubling questions about the BJP’s claims of inclusive welfare and grass-root development.  

Politicians and trade unionists have righty come forward to praise the Bihar caste survey as it exposes how the forward classes dominate. Rights groups like the All-India OBC Employees Federation (AIOBCEF), Most Backward Classes Forum (MBCF) and the Janjid Brahmin Mahasabha (JBM) have rightly questioned why successive governments had not acted on a three-decade old order to identify the artisan castes and put them outside the creamy layer, considering their extreme backwardness. 

It is a well-known fact that the whole administrative apparatus is dominated by the forward castes, which obvious take all decisions. Thus, their neglect towards the backward castes is quite understandable. It may be mentioned here that the Supreme Court had in December 2021 directed Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, whose policies of introducing OBC reservation in local body elections had been challenged, to set up a dedicated commission each for an ‘empirical inquiry’ into the applications of reservation in local bodies. They were to specify volumes of the reservation required while limiting the total to a highest of 50 percent. Later Odisha and Haryana decided to follow the example. 

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, within a day, changed his observation and stated that economic rights should decide rights and benefits, trying to counter the Opposition’s demand for a nation-wide caste census. He reportedly said: “The poor of Bharat have the first right over the country’s resources, whether the poor person is a Dalit, a backward or a tribal or from the general category. For me, the poor are the biggest caste”. 

But his policies sadly have not showed what he said a few days back. Obviously, Modi had no other alternative but to react in this manner to counter the overwhelming support for the caste survey and to point out that the neglected section – the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) – have been suffering as successive governments had not cared to look at their rehabilitation. 

Though a section of the media has criticised this survey by giving various justifications, it is undoubtedly an eye-opener to the fact that development has been on misplaced priorities and that there is an imperative need to plan schemes that benefit the lower castes and the EBCs who constitute 36 percent of the Bihar population. The figure would not be much different if say such a census was carried out in the Hindi heartland States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh or Rajasthan at this point of time. Is this the reason why the BJP has time and again refused for an all-India caste census? If such census would have been carried out, it would clearly reveal that allocations for the lowest segments have been inordinately poor as all money has been earmarked to make life cosier for the upper and middle income sections of society.   

In this connection, questions have been raised the EWS (economically weaker sections) who were found to constitute 15 percent of the population in Bihar get 10 percent quota. In fact, 15 percent people are getting an exclusive 10 percent quota while 85 percent people from the SCs, STs and OBCs are getting 50 percent quota. This has been found to be irrational. Demands have been made for sub-categorisation of OBCs so that the EBCs get a fair deal, and this can happen by implementing the Rohini Commission report. 

The very fact that the present dispensation has reportedly followed a pro-rich policy cannot be doubted but the question remains how long will this continue? Will the poor continue to suffer in silence when all facilities – whether of education, health, roads and highways etc. -- are all made available in urban areas to facilitate good life for a particular section of society. This is obviously a repressive state of development where deprivation and exploitation prevail and that too in a country where Mahatma Gandhi is adored as the ‘Father of the Nation’.      

If the poor are the biggest caste, what is the agenda of Modi and his government to rectify matters? How much additional money will be allocated for the MGNREGA programme in the current budget to make sure that those enrolled get work for 100 days or at least 80 days a month? Obviously, this year’s allocation needs to be doubled for which a 0.5 percent surcharge will have to be levied on the billionaires of the country. Will the centre do this and change its pro-rich image to reach out to the poor? 

One may recall that Oxfam had suggested for imposing additional taxation on the rich to meet the government’s priorities of looking at the welfare and needs of the poorest. But the Indian government did not give credence to such suggestion. The planners and bureaucrats, who are better off, don’t show the genuine concern for those citizens languishing in the backwards areas of the country. In fact, when the undersigned was taking classes of officers in Bhubaneswar, they were surprised when the pathetic conditions in the interior villages of their States as also that of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bengal were pointed out to them. 

Rural transformation is a favourite subject alright but doingactual concrete work is something different. A lot heavily revolves around monetary allocation for rural development, which unfortunately is very less than the actual requirement. Moreover, how can the government find money for welfare schemes after giving huge subsidies to the business houses to start their enterprises that are run purely on commercial basis. Even subsidised land is given for setting up hospitals and educational institutions, which only the rich and the upper middle class can afford to go.     

The entire question revolves around what strategy would now be adopted to reverse the pro-rich, pro-urban bias and target the extremely backward castes who languish in poverty. If the poor is the biggest caste, can we expect that policies would be revised to target this section and upgrade their livelihoods. The questions beg answers. ---INFA 

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)